Tasting notes

nose

Anise, pine and clove with orange peel, pear, brioche and almond, over sweet floral notes

palate

Medium-bodied; anise and brioche with cinnamon, walnut, almond and clove, building to tobacco and black pepper

finish

Long and spicy; brioche and almond carry on with blueberry, cherry, black tea and cardamom, drying to charcoal and sassafras

Mash bill

100% unmalted Wrens Abruzzi rye. Wrens Abruzzi is an heirloom rye grown in the Carolinas for centuries, adapted to hot, humid weather and grown mostly as a cover crop and for grazing, with small grains and low yields per acre. High Wire mashes it raw, unmalted, so the grain's cereal sweetness comes through, and the distillery says it brings stone fruit and a nuttiness not usual in rye. Early batches held as much as 25% white heirloom corn and some malted rye; High Wire dropped both, finding the corn made the whiskey taste of corn more than rye.

Why it's craft

High Wire picked Wrens Abruzzi because the rye belongs to the region: it has been grown in the Carolinas for centuries, mostly as a cover crop, and few distillers use it. The grain is sourced locally and mashed raw, and the distillery has refined the recipe down to rye alone. Founded in Charleston in 2013 by Scott Blackwell and Ann Marshall, High Wire mills, mashes, distills and ages its whiskey at its downtown distillery, in barrels whose staves air-dry for three years.